“It’s not a quantitative question, it’s a qualitative question,” Race says, while adding that what really matters is how a city and its expansion are designed.

Race thinks Houston could be retrofitted “as a contemporary modern city with a lot more diversity in terms of housing offerings” by, for instance, having “60 or 70 linear blocks of medium and higher density housing around transit (corridors)” and covering areas close to and around 10 or 12 key intersections.

The expert says Houston is, at least to a certain extent, already experiencing that transformation with four and six story buildings. “It’s a real common construction type, it’s affordable, and that’s what we’re seeing a lot of and that’s the next level of density and investment we could expect to see, particularly in transit corridors.”

The expert notes Houston needs to transition to being a more walkable city and, specifically referring to the Complete Communities plan, says “that neighborhood based approach is really key, so you are not just looking at a collection of developments, it’s actually planned as a neighborhood.”

“That adds more value, you can be more inclusive in terms of how you think about these neighborhoods, so I think that ends up being important,” Race underlines, while also mentioning that improving mobility in the Houston region will also be a “critical” factor in the equation to successfully achieve the projected population growth.